University of Pennsylvania Hospital Extract Radiation Dose Data from PACS

Researchers have developed an efficient method for extracting and archiving CT radiation dose information that can enable providers to keep track of estimated radiation dose delivered to each patient at a given facility, help providers make more informed health care decisions and improve patient safety, according to a study in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

To facilitate access to and analysis of radiation dose information, researchers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, designed, implemented and validated RADIANCE, an automated extraction "pipeline" to query their institutional Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) and extract radiation dose data stored in the dose report image of every CT examination performed. The "pipeline" can process both retrospective and prospective CT studies, in order to make dose information available for all CT examinations at our institution, as well as examinations acquired at other institutions provided for review or re-evaluation, according to the lead author of the study.